Starring: Robert Downey Jnr, Jude Law, Rachel McAdams, Noomi Rapace, Jared Harris, Stephen Fry.
Certificate: 12A
Plot: Following his wedding, Dr. Watson (Law) is forced to once again join forces with old friend, the slightly crazy, but incredibly intelligent Sherlock Holmes (Downey Jnr), in order to outwit the genius that is Professor Moriaty (Harris).
Two Reasons to watch "Game of Shadows"
Action Scenes. Fans of the first film, will remember the "scene breakdown" which saw Holmes analyse each move he was going to make, before he actually made them. I guess the idea was to show how fast Holmes' mind works, in comparison to how long it would probably take the average person (like you and I) to grasp what needs to be done to win a fight. In "A Game of Shadows", this whole concept is taken a step further, because it is inevitable that whilst Holmes may be able to outsmart the not-so-bright opponents, like petty criminals. However, when pitted against a nemesis of very similar fast-thinking intellect, such as Professor Moriaty, the film showed just because Holmes had managed to devise a method of defeating him, Moriaty had devised a method of conteracting, as well as pre-empting Holmes' every move, thus creating a situation of "which mind will outsmart which"?
Moriaty. I've read a great deal of criticism about the portrayal of Moriaty, but personally, I felt that it was absolutely spot-on.
Mark Strong's Blackwood in the first Sherlock films was an excellent example of a "stereotypical" bad guy. He looked scary, his persona was intimidating and everyone in and out of the film environment (pretty much) knew that he was the bad guy.
Moriaty, on the other hand, was a seemingly normal guy. There is nothing sinister (on the surface) to him; he's a respectable member of the community, and a lot people have a great deal of trust in him. This makes Moriaty a much creepier and realistic, bad guy, in my opinion.
Two reasons not to watch "Game of Shadows"
Plot. It's very difficult not to compare a film to any predecessors, and to judge them solely on their own merits, which seems unfair, but we all do it. The problem for "Game of Shadows" is that it followed a film that was very plot-driven, and in comparison this one was a little less plot-driven. The plot was less "specific", I guess you could say, than the original, as several sub-plots are running at the same time, from the terror attacks, to the rivalry between Holmes and Moriaty, Holmes' need to protect Watson from Moriaty and then right down to the sub story of Madam Simza Heron and her brother. As a result, none of the plots really come forward as a main plot, which I felt let the film down.
Mycroft Holmes. I never thought that I would put this down as a dislike, and I have no disrespect to Stephen Fry, in the slightest, because I did think that he played the role nicely, but I couldn't help feeling that the inclusion of Sherlock's brother was very pointless. Ultimately, Mycroft brings very little to the film and I don't think that very much would have been lost without him.
All Mycroft really contributed was light relief, which the film didn't necessarily need.
Conclusion. The film was fun, and I did enjoy watching it to the extreme that I would definitely watch it again, and some parts were genuinely funny. However, I really didn't feel that it lived up to it's poster claim of being "bigger, better and funnier", because it really wasn't particularly any of those things.
I was glad, however, that the film stuck to a very similar soundtrack as the original film, which I love.
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